Interior Lighting

[Numptysnumnuts]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Right this is for the automotive electricians out there who know the looms of a Phase 1, 1.5 and 2 inside out. I have my trusty haynes books which for some unknown reason seems to have wiring diagrams written by a colour blind author or it might be me

I want to put some small LED lighting within the door panels and else where around the car. Can I just piggy back off the cable for the cigar lighter illumination? If running the cables into the door do I need to run an earth cable to it or can I just latch on to one of the metal fixing points in the door?

Also I dont know what the previous owner was doing with the doors but they have 3 holes in the bottom side panel. Was thinking about filling them then thought about put some red indicators to illuminate on the door opening. Can I use the Brown cable that goes to the door switch as my feed and the same issue with earths applies here too. Again the lights would only be LED types in bezel and water proof seals.

Yes I know I have a clutch to sort but I have a spare day tomorrow and want to do something on the car.

[Tony Walker]

the3 holes along the base of the door are drain hole for rain water, if you block them it will fill the doors and rot v quickly :(
The doors arent rubber mounted so an earth point in the door should work fine.
You could use the cigarette switched ignition feed if you like. or if you wanted the lights to switch on when the doors open then off when you close them, use the interior light feed.

[Phoenix Autosport]

as its for interior lights you want them to work without the need to have the ignition on so you want a permanent live, run from the battery +ve through a 1A fuse, use a grommet when running through bulkhead or any other panels, for your earth as you want it to trigger when opening the door connect to the centre pin on one of the door pin switches, if you are using LED's you will need current limiting resistors in each chain so make sure you know the forward voltage and ideal working current of the devices and use your ohms law :coffee: :smokin:

[Numptysnumnuts]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Phoenix I like you way of thinking but just want the interior lighting to come on when the side lights or headlights are on. Plus I have more than I would like drill holes in my bulkhead.

That said I have done a bit more work on the car and I am saved or at least I think I am. Whilst stripping out the old defunct wiring for I think about 3 alarms and a tracker I came across four cables sat just above the glove box already crimped lugged with female sapde connections. Now I have double checked all switches and they have connections so no idea really what these are for but I have a Blue, Black and 2 Oranges. Only interested in the Blue connection as this is the interior lighting circuit. Have checked with the trusty meter and there is power when lights on and probes are in Blue and Black plugs.

Am going down the route of LED lighting because its crisp light. Using 12V 5mm LED's so there is no need to use resistors and current draw should be an issue on the circuit. Will take into account the running in series and parallel issue and will work out where I want the lights first.